The Zach Show

Todd Purdum joins Zach to unpack Desi Arnaz’s wild arc: raised like a prince in Cuba, exiled at 16 by revolution, hustling in Miami, inventing the conga craze, then conquering Broadway and Hollywood with Lucille Ball. We dig into trauma that fueled his genius, the invention of the three-camera sitcom, catching "Lightning In A Bottle" with I Love Lucy, womanizing, marriage cracks and goodbyes, and the fingerprints Desi left on moder...

On this episode of The Zach Show, Mick West joins Zach to trace how modern conspiracies form from the Charlie Kirk assassination to UFO lore. They examine social media speed, projection of political fears, and AI’s role in amplifying falsehoods such as Grok inventing quotes about the Kirk assassination. Mick shows why high-resolution footage often fails to stop speculation, how theories evolve like viruses, and why people prefer si...

Leaked audio from Israel’s former chief of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, reveals him saying “50,000 dead in Gaza is necessary” and that Palestinians “need a Nakba” to learn the cost of resistance. In this conversation, genocide scholar Omer Bartov unpacks the implications: the blurred line between war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide; the whataboutisms comparing Gaza to WWII bombings; and U.S. complicity thr...

Genocide scholar Omer Bartov joins The Zach Show for part 1 of this conversation to explain why, by May 2024, it was “no longer possible to deny” Israel’s genocidal intent in Gaza. We dig into the Rafah operation, the systematic destruction of homes, hospitals, and schools, bulldozers flattening entire neighborhoods, mass starvation, and leaders invoking biblical calls to wipe out Amalek. Bartov lays out how operational patterns + ...

In this episode of The Zach Show, award-winning journalist Philip Shenon, author of Jesus Wept, takes us inside the Vatican’s most turbulent century. From Pope Pius XII’s meeting with Hitler and his controversial silence during the Holocaust, to Pope John XXIII’s revolutionary Vatican II reforms, we trace the Church’s battles over power, mercy, and truth. Shenon unpacks Hans Küng’s assault on papal infallibility, the decades-long r...

What does it really take to disappear in 2025? In this episode, we dive into the surreal world of extreme-privacy consultants, people who charge tens of thousands to make you untraceable. From 191 virtual debit cards to fake dogs and burner phones in Faraday bags, these modern-day Disappearers help CEOs, crypto millionaires, and paranoid civilians vanish from the grid. But in a world where your face, heartbeat, and mouse movements ...

As the DOJ now claims no Epstein client list exists and Epstein-related files remain sealed, we’re re-releasing one of the most explosive interviews we’ve ever done. This is Part 2 of our deep dive with investigative journalist Nick Bryant, originally recorded in October 2024. Nick connects Epstein’s rise, from college dropout to Mossad-linked blackmailer, to the Franklin Scandal he spent years uncovering. We break down Epstein’s i...

Professor Sander van der Linden’s fascination with misinformation traces back to his own family’s scars under Nazism, a regime that perfected propaganda so insidious it seeped invisibly into everyday life. In his award-winning book Foolproof, van der Linden argues that misinformation is a psychological virus, spreading through minds the way a biological virus hijacks cells. From Third Reich leaflets to modern algorithms, the tools ...

Otis Brown III didn’t just grow up around music, he was shaped by it. With a father who drummed for legends like James Brown and Al Green, and a mother who was a classically trained pianist and choir director, Otis was raised in a home where rhythm and soul were a way of life. In this episode, we trace Otis’s journey from early church gigs to Donald Byrd’s midnight mentorship and on to stages with Esperanza Spalding and Robert Glas...

What does it take to bring down the most powerful drug lord in modern history? In this gripping episode, DEA Special Agent Steve Murphy, one of the agents who helped take down Pablo Escobar, joins me to unpack the truth behind the manhunt that inspired Netflix’s Narcos. From gunfights in Miami and undercover stings gone sideways, to the 18-month chase through Colombia with a $300,000 bounty on his head, Murphy shares firsthand stor...

What really happened the night of the Breonna Taylor raid? In this episode, retired Louisville Sergeant John Mattingly shares his firsthand experience from the 2020 police operation that became a national flashpoint. Shot in the leg during the raid that left Breonna Taylor dead, Mattingly takes us beyond the headlines and social media narratives. From his upbringing in Portland, Louisville, to the pivotal moments that led him to a ...

On this episode of The Zach Show, Adam Butler and Zach discuss DMT, the psychedelic molecule that Adam claims saved his life. From suicidal despair in the desert to conversations with God, demons, and dimensional beings, Adam recounts his transformation through DMT with brutal honesty and poetic grit. We unpack the “Miracle Molecule” from every angle: the effects of endogenous DMT, why it shows up at birth and death, its role in al...

On this episode of The Zach Show, Zach sits down with Dr. Jose Loiaza and Dr. Julie Labau to discuss mosquito-borne disease, the biggest myths about mosquitoes, whether we're on the brink of a supervirus pandemic, a recent research expedition to the Darien Gap, climate change, the origin of the coronavirus, Trump's threats to take over the Panama canal, and more. 

Guest Bios: Dr. Jose Loaiza is a disease ecologist with over 30 year...

On this episode of The Zach Show, Jim Mahaffey and Zach discuss how Jim became fascinated with nuclear history, the most infamous atomic weapons smuggler of all time, the high-risk environment of The Manhattan Project, what really went wrong at Chornobyl, a perfect explanation of what happened at Roswell, Cold Fusion, whether a nuclear powered Iron Man suit would actually be feasible, the connection between UFOs and nukes, and more...

On this solo episode of The Zach Show, Zach discusses the infamous Rendlesham Forest UFO Encounter, the much less discussed first-hand witness accounts of the UFO visiting the nuclear storage facility with live tactical nukes, the radar readings of the crafts from the encounter, the case for UAP transparency, the future of humanity as a species not alone in this universe, and more.

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On this episode of The Zach Show, Julie and Zach discuss Black Swan, more specifically the twisted journey of Nina's descent into madness, the erotic rivalry that unfolded between Lily and Nina, fan theories on the film, the price of perfection, and more. 

Guest bio: Dr. Julie Labau is a research scientist for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute with a PhD in neuroscience. 

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On this episode of The Zach Show, Chris Cooper and Zach discuss Chris' debut fiction novel 'Crazy By Conscious,' how Chris saved his brother's life in the hospital, the philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti, the collapse of Bed Bath & Beyond, Chris' firsthand New Jersey drone/UAP experience, and more. 

Guest bio: Chris Cooper is an award-winning writer, novelist, and performance coach.

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On this episode of The Zach Show, Annette Nenner and Christian Hardinghaus discuss the disappearance of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon on the infamous Pianista Trail in Panama, the case analysis and elements of the disappearance that don't match up, the photos recovered from the SD card, accident versus crime theories, whether this case was covered up by Panamanian authorities, and more. 

GUEST BIO: Christian Hardinghaus is a New Y...

On this episode of The Zach Show, Brittany King and Zach discuss John Lewis and his courageous actions during the Civil Rights Movement, the driving forces behind the polarization of America, the outrage sparked by Ta Nehisi Coates' interview on CBS, Brittany's journey back towards God, and more.

Guest Bio: Brittany King is a writer, essayist, and journalist. She is the founder of Yellow Seeds Magazine and the host of American Shad...